Using one of these official ballot-drop boxes means you don’t have to depend on the Post Office. (Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)

Using the word “recount” around a campaign manager is akin to mentioning “Macbeth” by name to a Shakespearean actor inside a theater — both terms are guaranteed to draw a nasty look (and maybe a dirty word or two).

But given the tightness of Colorado’s gubernatorial race, and perhaps the fight for U.S. Senate between Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Cory Gardner, it’s worth examining how a recount would work.

Two events can trigger a recount in Colorado. The first is automatic — if a leading candidate is ahead by 0.5 percent or less, then the Secretary of State is required to conduct a recount. In that case, the state would pay for it.

A losing candidate also can demand a recount if the margin is outside 0.5 percent. In that situation, the recount is similar to the Coach’s Challenge in the NFL. If a losing candidate demands a recount and still loses, then he or she is required to cover the cost of the recount — which can run $1 million or more.

But if the recount flips the result, then the candidate won’t pay for it.

Either way, it would take weeks to determine a winner. The county canvass boards, which certify elections, won’t meet until Nov. 12 at the earliest to begin the process of sending results to the Secretary of State.

Not only that, but Colorado has two weeks from Election Day — or Nov. 18 this year — to verify provisional ballots. While it’s unlikely there will be many provisional ballots this year, given the option in Colorado to register to vote on Election Day, it’s still another hurdle that must be overcome.

Both these dates mean that it is unlikely that a recount would start any earlier than mid-November. And the Secretary of State has the option to begin a recount as late as the first week in December — a month after Election Day.

Once a recount starts, counties would run their ballots through the machines again. Election officials also would test voting equipment for glitches. The whole process could take a day or more — likely longer in the largest counties.

Once one recount is done, there would not be another. At that point, the only recourse for a losing candidate is a court challenge.

Mark K. Matthews is the Washington correspondent for The Denver Post. He’s covered Congress and the White House for a decade, first for the Orlando Sentinel and then for the Post. His past work includes two jailhouse murder confessions, investigations of the VA and NASA and a long, strange trip into the mudbogging world of Lake County, Fla.

The University of Colorado leadership is grappling with how to address a nationwide nosedive in the favorability of higher education — particularly, among conservatives — as CU’s own representatives and decision-makers disagree on what’s behind the downturn.